head honcho after working there only 144 days? I mean would they let you run the whole business? Because that is what all of you left leaning liberals want to do. Barack Obama has worked only 144 days in the senate, and you guys want to give him the keys to the shop.

How many days has Barack Obama served in the US Senate?
In: Barack Obama
[Edit]

[Edit]
Obama was sworn in as a Senator on January 4, 2005.

You can do the counting yourself, but as of today (August 11, 2008) I count 3 years, 7 months, 7 days. As of today, that makes 1,318 days.
Actually, this is a gross overstatement.
If you consider only the number of work days in the senate from the time of his election until he formed his presidential campaign, Obama served 144 days in the senate. McCain has served just under 2,000.

obama will inspire the masses to sit back and do nothing. He wants to award the underachievers.

I bust my ass and will have to wait in line for health care for my kids while someone who dropped out of school is in front of me? Hell no

Nice rationalization

Look at what your healthcare costs have done in the past 5 years alone, the current trajectory simply isn't sustainable.

I'm not for a single payer system, but there's enough money flowing to better handle situations that are s#^^^^^&g up a lot of cost. For instance an investment into preventative care could reap a net gain downstream by reducing more costly treatments for advanced conditions.

I don't understand this visceral reaction to anything that alludes to a socialistic approach to problem solving.

Wealth redistribution is evil, though we do already have a progressive tax system that pretty much created the middle class.

Regulation is evil, though less regulation does typically lead to more pollution and corporate corruption.

Socializing health care is evil, though my private insurance is climbing some 30% a year.

Free markets are best, and perform better when propped up by government handouts!

If we eliminate 1/2 of our options before we even begin, how many innovative solutions might be overlooked?

Look at what your healthcare costs have done in the past 5 years alone, the current trajectory simply isn't sustainable.

I'm not for a single payer system, but there's enough money flowing to better handle situations that are s#^^^^^&g up a lot of cost. For instance an investment into preventative care could reap a net gain downstream by reducing more costly treatments for advanced conditions.

-spence

Spence, you're right on about preventative medicine, but it's not going to solve the healthcare crisis alone.

The major reason healthcare costs have increased as much as they have is malpractice insurance costs for doctors. The best and brightest doctors who are trained in the U.S. aren't going to work in hospitals now. They either go into research, where the liklihood of malpractice suits is minimal or they go into group practice. We're left with doctors trained at the Ghana Community Medical College or Haiti School of Hair Design, Plumbing and Medicine.

Because the doctors are being charged outrageous malpractice insurance costs, they are passing the costs along to the health care insurers like BCBS, etc... The health insurance companies need to keep their margins, so they have to raise costs. Who ends up paying? Those of us who have health insurance and the companies we work for who are paying the bulk of our medical insurance.

Now, none of this is any comfort to the uninsured out there, but it explains a little bit of why health care in this country is so out of whack.

You've got me totally confused now. What would I know about an influx of Haitians in Brockton? But, if there are any Hatian restaurants in Brockton, I'd be interested. I'd make the trip for some curried goat.

But to address the post, what is lost in all this BS is the key word
LEADERSHIP

How much experience did Alexander the Great, Atilla the Hun, Ghandi, Hitler, etc have?
yet, they had massive accompisments, some not the best for humanity, but still massive undertakings whihc required one thing - leadership
My favorite scene in any film and should be the template for all leadership studies is in Band of Brothersm when they were attacking Caratan (sp?) The troops were in ditches on the side of the road and where under machine gun fire. Corp Winters gets up and starts pushing the troops to get up and go, hitting them, pushing them and yelling to get up an go. That to me is the epitome of leadership, putting yourself in the line of fire to push towards an objective. Did Winters have "experience" getting shot at? Nope, they just landed in Normandy a day or two earlier. Leadership is a quality and not something experience offers. Great leaders know how to leverage the experienced people and drive them to meeting the goals. I am not a fan of Obama, but I dont buy the experience argument. I also dont think he is a leader, but thats another story